Group donates bikes to homeless shelter residents

As volunteers unloaded bikes off of a truck, Ray Flowers' eyes grew wider.

"Oh man! Look at that yellow one!" said Flowers, 53, one of about two dozen residents of homeless shelters who received free bikes Saturday in a parking lot on Chicago's Near West Side.

The bikes were provided by the Chicago-based Working Bikes Cooperative, which rescues and refurbishes bikes from alleys, garages and basements, selling some and donating others to people in Africa, Latin America and elsewhere.

In addition to free bicycles, the homeless also received helmets and lessons in safe riding in a city environment. The event was sponsored by the Streeterville Organization of Active Residents and Help Ease Local Poverty.

Brian Hopkins, vice president of the Streeterville Organization, said the recipients could use the bikes to find work as messengers or get to jobs during overnight hours when public transportation is spotty.

Hopkins said there is nothing to prevent them from turning around and selling the bikes, which are tagged with black-and-white stickers, but that has not been his experience.

"Every time we do one of these, I see the same bikes I worked on in the neighborhood," said Hopkins, who also is a Working Bikes Cooperative board member.

Flowers said he is in truck-driving school but could use a bike for transportation.